Marlboro, the first tobacco company to invest in cannabis

Altria is the first tobacco company to be seduced by the lucrative marijuana market. RICHARD VOGEL / AP

From cigarette to comic, there's only one step that the owner of Marlboro, the cowboy brand, has just crossed at a gallop. The American group, Altria, announced, on Friday 7 December, to bet $ 1.8 billion (1.6 billion euros) to seize 45% of the Canadian company Cronos. What to put butter in the spinach of this SME that has just launched its Spinach brand of cannabis. And for its shareholders win the jackpot. While the turnover of Cronos today weighs just over a cloud of smoke, $ 3 million.

Altria is the first tobacco company to be seduced by the lucrative marijuana market. Anxious to find new inspiration in the face of the decline in tobacco consumption and the uncertainties about the future of vape.

But alcoholics had paved the way. In August, the owner of Corona Beer, the American group of alcoholics Constellation Brands, caused a sensation by spending almost $ 4 billion to acquire the capital of the Canadian company Canopy Growth and hold 38%.

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Molson Coors and Heineken, for their part, have collaborated with green leaf specialists to offer cannabis-based non-alcoholic beverages. Then, in mid-September, it was the turn of the soda giant, Coca-Cola, to reveal its intention to put a pinch of cannabidiol in its cans.

Everyone has a vision: the legalization of cannabis for therapeutic and recreational uses is ongoing. This is already the case, since 17 October, in Canada, the first G7 country to authorize this drug. Young shoots of cannabis are sprouted in the country. And they have planted their hopes for the stock market. Although everyone is hoping to prosper in the United States and also in Europe.

This effervescence has not escaped speculators. Cannabis has a good market smell. The ratings of companies like Canopy Groowth, Tilray, Aurora or Cronos flew into the stratosphere. Since then, they have undergone some air holes, but Altria's operation is helping to swell the bubble.

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And in France, will you say? Supporters of therapeutic legalization met Wednesday, December 5 at the Assembly. Among these, the MP of Jean-Baptiste Moreau. Ready to make Creuse, the crucible of French cannabis …